Music Sound

New Weird America describes a musical movement in the 2000s of psychedelic folk music. The term was coined by David Keenan in The Wire in 2004 following the Brattleboro Free Folk Festival organized by Matt Valentine and is a play on Greil Marcus's phrase Old Weird America as used in his book Invisible Republic which deals with the linneage connecting the pre-war folk performers on Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music to Bob Dylan and his milieu. The style of this movement is mainly derived from folk and psychedelic groups from the 1960s and 1970s, including American performers Holy Modal Rounders and English group Pentagle, but also finds inspiration from such disparate sources as heavy-metal, free jazz, electronic music, noise music as well as early- and mid-20th century American folk music. The bands of this movement are usually classified as psych folk, acid folk or most notably as freak-folk.

Most works of the genre are issued in small editions and distributed independently. The music has been covered extensively by L.A. based Arthur Magazine, which has run in-depth pieces on Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, Animal Collective, and Six Organs of Admittance; released the definitive New Weird America compilation The Golden Apples of the Sun; and curated 2006's Arthur-Ball and and 2005's Arthur-Fest events, which featured a variety of artists from the movement.

New Weird America is not a unified movement. It was a term derived by journalists such as post-rock and indie rock. Many of these bands do not identify with this term but have been lumped into it by the press. The underground American scene has been around for a long time.

Some bands and musicians classified with this movement include:

500mg
Akron/Family
Alec K Redfearn
Animal Collective
Andrew Bird
Andrew Phillip Tipton
Antony and the Johnsons
Ariel Pink
Baptist Generals
Black Dice
The Books
Castanets, The
Cat Power
Charalambides
Circulatory System
CocoRosie
Crix Crax Crux
Dame Darcy
Danielson Family
David Dondero
Davenport
Deek Hoi
Devendra Banhart
Diane Cluck
Espers
Eyes and Arms of Smoke
Faun Fables
Flaming Fire
Fursaxa
Grant Olney
Hubert Matezl Jr.
The Hypermodernity Club
Iron & Wine
Jack Rose
Jackie O' Motherfucker
Jana Hunter
Josephine Foster
Joanna Newsom
June Madrona
Lavender Diamond
Live Your Dreams Stay off Drugs
Marissa Nadler
The Microphones / Mount Eerie
Mirah
The MV & EE Medicine Show
No-Neck Blues Band
Pothole Skinny
Rivers & Mountains
Scorces
Serena Ryder
Six Organs of Admittance
Subtonic Monks
Sufjan Stevens
Sunburned Hand of the Man
Sunn o)))
Tower Recordings
Town & Country
Vetiver
Will Oldham
We the Royal
Winter Flowers
Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice

External links

• BBC Article